Unlike some vaccines, there’s been so much demand for the new shingles vaccine Shingrix that it’s not always easy to find. It was approved in 2017, and the CDC recommends the vaccine for adults 50 and older to prevent this painful, blistering illness. It is being used in place of the previous vaccine, Zostavax. More …

Here’s some worrisome news for folks who manage to survive a heart attack: New research suggests they might be far more vulnerable to developing cancer down the road. People who suffered a heart health scare — a heart attack, heart failure or a dangerously erratic heart rhythm — had a more than sevenfold increased risk …

Racial bias among health care providers limits black Americans’ odds of receiving a heart transplant, a new study finds. Researchers asked 422 U.S. physicians, nurses and other hospital decision-makers to review the hypothetical cases of black men and white men with heart failure and to decide if the patients should be referred for a heart …

For the first time in the United States, the gene editing tool known as CRISPR has been employed to fight cancer, doctors reported Wednesday. So far, CRISPR has only been tried in three patients, two with multiple myeloma and one with a sarcoma. All had tried standard treatments, to no avail. With CRISPR, doctors extracted …

Millions of Americans take an ACE inhibitor to help curb their high blood pressure — in fact, these drugs are the most widely used antihypertensives in America. However, a new international study of nearly 5 million patients is casting doubt on the notion that the drugs are as effective as another class of blood pressure …

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma are the two major types of primary liver tumour. Both are increasing in incidence in the UK, in the case of HCC because of the increasing prevalence of chronic liver disease, particularly caused by alcohol and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. They have a poor overall prognosis because of late presentation …

MONDAY, Dec. 2, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Brushing your teeth may be good for your heart, a new study suggests.It included more than 161,000 South Korean adults, ages 40 to 79, with no history of heart failure or the heart rhythm disorder atrial fibrillation. Between 2003 and 2004, participants had a routine medical exam and …

The liver is frequently involved in infections that are prevalent in different regions of the tropics, and chronic liver disease, sometimes with multiple aetiological explanations, is an important cause of early morbidity and mortality. This article describes some hepatic and biliary problems that are seen in the tropics or can be imported from resource-poor settings. …

Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) remains a major global healthcare challenge with changing epidemiology and increasing morbidity and mortality from the complications of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Hepatitis B virus infection can be broadly categorized into four disease phases: (1) hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive chronic infection; (2) HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis; (3) HBeAg-negative chronic …